Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment for Workers Exposed to Bioaerosol in Wastewater Treatment Plants Aimed at the Choice and Setup of Safety Measures

Annalaura Carducci, Gabriele Donzelli, Lorenzo Cioni, Ileana Federigi, Roberto Lombardi and Marco Verani
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Annalaura Carducci: Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Gabriele Donzelli: Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Lorenzo Cioni: Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Ileana Federigi: Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Roberto Lombardi: Department of Technology Innovations, Research, and Certification Sector—INAIL, Research Centre—Via Fontana Candida 1, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone (Rm), Italy
Marco Verani: Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: Biological risk assessment in occupational settings currently is based on either qualitative or semiquantitative analysis. In this study, a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) has been applied to estimate the human adenovirus (HAdV) health risk due to bioaerosol exposure in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). A stochastic QMRA model was developed considering HAdV as the index pathogen, using its concentrations in different areas and published dose–response relationship for inhalation. A sensitivity analysis was employed to examine the impact of input parameters on health risk. The QMRA estimated a higher average risk in sewage influent and biological oxidation tanks (15.64% and 12.73% for an exposure of 3 min). Sensitivity analysis indicated HAdV concentration as a predominant factor in the estimated risk. QMRA results were used to calculate the exposure limits considering four different risk levels (one illness case per 100, 1.000, 10.000, and 100.000 workers): for 3 min exposures, we obtained 565, 170, 54, and 6 GC/m 3 of HAdV. We also calculated the maximum time of exposure for each level for different areas. Our findings can be useful to better define the effectiveness of control measures, which would thus reduce the virus concentration or the exposure time.

Keywords: human adenovirus; quantitative microbial risk assessment; wastewater treatment plants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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